Month: June 2005

I got myself some lunch at Nando’s. It’s a Western style restaurant that serves mostly chicken dishes. I ordered the Chicken Burger with fries and a glass of ice water. The waitress informed me that they “weren’t allowed to serve ice water”. I told her that I’d had ice water the last time I was there but she just assured me, the managers wouldn’t allow it and the servers get into trouble if they do anyway. I wasn’t exactly in a good mood having gotten off of the phone with my ex-fiance whom I just told that she was crazy (that didn’t go over well but that’s another story) so I told the waitress that no water would be fine, and that if I started to choke I wouldn’t hold her accountable. She laughed and then brought me some ice water anyway. I’m glad she was able to over-rule her managers stupid no ice water policy.

Later I went for a haircut; quite possibly the world’s worst hair cut. I would have been better off just shaving it all off. Instead I took a more rational approach (pretty good considering how irrational I’ve felt lately) and went back to have it trimmed again. It’s much nicer now, although going back wasn’t completely rewarding, I did get a nasty bite from the electric razor. I could practically see blood as he showed me the updated trim in his hand held mirror.

It’s so hot outside and I’m not sure if this post conveys it or not but I’m not exactly in the best mood. Going for a swim would do me wonders. So I asked around if there is a pool and the consensus is that in fact there are no swimming pools in all of KL! WTF? I might have to break down and go to Sunway (45 minute bus ride) and rm 40 for a day pass. Seems a little steep considering all I want to do is about 40 lengths at a leisurely pace. It shouldn’t take much more than 20 minutes to get my fill and Sunway is not the place to swim lengths, the main body of water there is actually a wave pool.

Here is an interesting story about Cleveland’s Y-Bridge.

Since its construction in 1981, the Y-Bridge has served as the launch site for 43 suicides and countless more attempts.

But unlike most bridges that seduce jumpers, the bodies here don’t fall into rivers, lakes, or forests. They fall onto buildings and houses, and into backyards, like some weird, ominous plague.

(Via Plastic QL)

I think today was the first Saturday since I’ve been here that I didn’t have something planned for me. So instead I hooked up with some friends that I met a week or two ago and we had lunch together at the Dome Cafe in KLCC. (KLCC is the location of the Petronas Twin Towers). I lugged along my backpack because I wanted to bring my water, camera, and ipod but it ended up being a waste because I never used any of them.

While at KLCC I picked up another book, “The Tipping Point”, by Malcolm Gladwell. I haven’t had time to read much of it yet, but I did check out the first couple chapters and so far it’s very interesting. It’s about how trends form and what makes one idea into a fad or epidemic while others die off.

I also booked my flight to Thailand today. I’ll be flying to Phucket (pronounced poo-ket) on Monday (tomorrow) and as luck would have it I’m meeting Dave Wood there. I was worried that I would be doing all of my last week traveling on my own. Dave is one of the other students from the U of L.

Today was my last day of work at GXM Studio. With only eight more days until my flight back to Canada, I’m both excited and sad that my time in Malaysia is coming to an end. I’ve decided to spend my last week in Thailand and will fly there on Monday.

I finished up the Kick-Ray game and Jon said he would put it online. I’ll link to it when it becomes available.

This evening Jon took me out to a friend of our’s place for a house warming party. I had a great time and I especially enjoyed the treat of western food (KFC chicken and Pizza Hut pizza). We had a good laugh watching the poor unfortunate contestants of Malaysian Idol butchering their favorite tunes. The interesting thing about TV in Malaysia is that often you have to know at least two or three different languages to know everything they are saying. They switch back and forth just as people in everyday conversation do here. It’s assumed that everyone can understand in whichever language they happen to be speaking. One thing is for sure, when it comes to singing it doesn’t matter what language they speak – if they can’t sing in Malaysian or English it’s still funny to see the judges responses.

On the way home from work I couldn’t believe my eyes. The bus was driving through a neighborhood that I had never seen before. After having almost taken the wrong bus a few days ago, how could I have not noticed that this was not the number 10?

Without panicking too much, I asked the person behind me where this bus was going. She asked where I was going and I explained that I was on the wrong bus, but I was going to Kota Raya. She said that yes, this was the right bus but it was taking a different route because traffic was bad on the main road.

A bus that can just veer off the main route whenever it pleases – just to avoid traffic? It’s almost as good as a taxi!

Recording VO

Yesterday after work Jon took me to do some voice over work for the corporate video we shot last weekend. It ended up taking about 5 hours (including the time we spent eating dinner) but despite the fact that it took a long time I had a pretty good time doing it anyway.

We ended up having to redo the whole thing because of some background noise that was recorded. Afterwards I just crashed at Jon’s place because it was pretty late and he needed to get some work done at GXM. I’m amazed at how he is able to focus so much time and energy and so many long nights in order to make sure he gets everything done. I guess there’s a reason why GXM has such a good reputation.

In other news at GXM, I’m currently working on a flash based game that hopefully will be finished before my last day on Friday. Not much time so I’d better get back to it.

I almost took the wrong bus on my way to work today. I hopped on without even looking at the number. Then I noticed the guy that usually yells, “Sunway – Sunway – Sunway” was yelling something else. As the bus started to merge with traffic I thought, that’s funny he must think this bus isn’t going to Sunway.

Immediately I jumped out onto the sidewalk and as the ticket collector looked at me funny from the door I yelled back to him over the noisy traffic – “I was on the wrong bus!”

So in conclusion, having someone yell where the bus is going and keeping the doors open for those that would like to get on (or off) while the bus is in motion is very handy. Who knows where I would have ended up or how long it would have taken me to notice my mistake.

Driving Home to KL

I had a quick dip in the hotel pool before we had our buffet breakfast and started the long drive back to KL.

The landscape on the way back was beautiful. There were huge jungles on both sides of the road and step mountains covered in trees. The roads weren’t too busy so we made really good time, at least until we got into KL where their city motto is, the town with Traffic. ;) J/k.

But what a fantastic weekend! I am so lucky to be here!

Our Resort Was So Nice

This morning we drove to a nearby resort and checked in. After that it was a nice relaxing swim in the South China sea followed by lounging around pool-side eating ice-cream cones and another dip in the hotel pool. Not only was the weather great, but everything was great.

For supper we found a nice Malaysian style place and had (I’ll just describe it since I can’t remember what’s it’s called) egg covered fried rice with chicken, manta ray, and fish. I love the spices they use here and really loved the meal. The ray wasn’t nearly as scary as expected – in fact it wasn’t scary at all; it was extremely tasty.

What a great weekend!

We didn’t stay at the birthday party as late as I would have liked because we had to get up early the next day. I slept over at Jon’s place and after less than 6 hours of sleep we were heading to Quanton for a video shoot.

We went to a mall to pick up some clothes for me to where during the shoot – which, by the way, brought me to one of the worst bathrooms I’ve ever encountered. I’ll spare you the details but suffice it to say it was very wet, very dirty, and VERY smelly. I’ve been in some smelly bathrooms, but this one was by far the smelliest.

Making the Video

The shoot was for an up-and-coming IT Company that is opening a new retail store called “The IT Life Shop”. I got dressed and pretty soon we were shooting. As those in my acting fundamentals class can attest I have some serious stage fright issues. Not so much fright as a plain lack of ability to recite lines when the camera is rolling. On the times when I got the dialog right, I would forgot to get my body movements right, and when I got the motions right, I would accidentally change the lines slightly. On the rare occasions when I nailed it, almost certainly someone or something outside would create a loud noise ruining the take. After more takes than any of us would care to remember we finally finished up the shoot.

Lock the Light Man

I had a good time being the host, but I felt bad for not being better at it. I have to say being an actor, even in something so simple as a corporate video is not nearly as easy as it looks.

That night we all went out for Chinese food and I had some of the best fish I’ve ever eaten in my life. I also really enjoyed the other dishes. Afterwards we went to a “really happening club” and danced to some pretty good live music. A little smoky and a little crowded for dancing, but I think every one of us had a good time.